



p'if 


-*r. 




DR. VAN RENSSELAER 


ON 


S. A li T. 




'■'t” - ^ 



> 




/ 





CONTAINING NOTICES OF ITS 


ORIGIN, FORMATION, GEOLOGICAL POSITION 

AND 

PRINCIPAL LOCALITIES, 

EMBRACING 

A PARTICULAR DESCRIPTION 


OF THE 

AmHILlVAM S; 

WITH A VIEW 



OF ITS USES IN THE ARTS, MANUFACTURES AND AGRICULTURE. 


Delivered as a Lecture before the New-York Lyceum of Natural History. 


BY JERr VAN RENSSELAER, M. D. 

»\ 

Oue of the Curators of the Lyceum ; Member of the Royal Medical Society 
' of Edin.; Foreign Member of the Society of Encouragement, and of 
the Medico-I’hilau. Soc. of Paris ; Mend), of the American 
Academy of Ai ts, of the Literary and Philosophical, 
and Medico-Physical Societies, N. Y. ; of the 
Society of Arts, and Cor. Member of 
the Lyceum, Albany. 


ME JV-YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY O. WILDER AND J. M. CAMPBELL, 148 BROADWA\ . 
C. S. Van Winkle, Printer, 2 Thames-street. 







Southern District of JVew-Yorkf ss. 

BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the twenty-first day of Novem¬ 
ber, in the forty-eighth year of the Independence of the United States 
of America, O. Wilder and J. M. Campbell, of the said District, have 
deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they 
claim as Proprietors, in the words and figures following, to wit; 

« An Essay on Salt, containing notices of its Origin, Formation, 
Geological Position and Principal Localities, embracing a Particular 
Description of the American Salines ; with a view of its uses in the 
Arts, Manufactures and Agriculture. Delivered as a Lecture "before 
the New-York Lyceum of Natural History. By Jer. Van Rens¬ 
selaer, M. D., one the Curators of the Lyceum ; Member of the Royal 
Medical Society of Edin.; Foreign Member of the Society of En¬ 
couragement, and of the Medico-Philan. Soc. of Paris ; Memb. of the 
American Academy of Arts, of the Literary and Philosophical, and 
Medico-Physical Societies, N Y. ; of the Society of Arts, and Cor. 
Member of the Lyceum, Albany.” 

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, en¬ 
titled, “ An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the 
“ copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors 
“of such copies, during the times therein mentioned.” And also 
“ to an Act entitled “ An Act supplementary to an act entitled 
“ An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies 
“ of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Pr<)()rietors of 
“ such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the 

benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching 
“ historical and other prints.” 


JAMES DILL, 

Clerk of the Southern District of New-York. 




«) 



I 


AN ESSAY ON SALT. 


<r cIkIs B'tloio. 

— sacred salt. 

Homer'*s 11. lx- 


However much geologists may differ in the clas¬ 
sification or arrangement of rocks and soils, they all 
agree that what is termed the secondary, forms the 
most important portion of the habitable globe; fur¬ 
nishes the greatest quantum of soil cultivated by 
man ; and yields at large the greatest [iroportion of. 
those substances which contribute to his comfort and 
happiness. 

The common division of rocks into primitive, tran¬ 
sition, and secondary, has thus far been generally 
•followed by scientific writers on the subject of geo¬ 
logy. To me it seems probable, that future investi¬ 
gations will induce geologists to abolish the class 
transition, and to adopt a new one: in which case we 
shall have, 


2 






6 


I. Primary, or Primitive. 

II. Secondary. 

III. Tertiary. 

IV. Occasional; which last will include, 

1. Volcanic Productions. 

2. Coal. 

3. Alluvia. — 

4. Clay and Sand. 

5. Lignite and Peat. 

The reasons for thus relinquishing the class transit 
tion are, 

1. The limited extent of the formation. 

2. The difficulty existing in discovering its line of 
demarcation. 

3. Its total absence, in many cases, leaving the 
secondary resting on the primary. 

In America, particularly, this opinion may be 
likely to })revail. In this immense continent the 
transition seems but as a band lying on the side of 
our primitive range of mountains. To the north¬ 
west it frequently changes place with the secondary, 
and is often so confounded with it as to lose its 
original features ; while to the south-east there is no 
vestige of its existence, although it may be placed 
under the tertiary and alluvia that skirt our coast. 
To the north-west the secondary sandstone, in highly 



7 


inclined strata, reposes immediately on the granite, 
without the intervention of any transition rock. And 
yet in this country geological outlines are more dis¬ 
tinct than in any other that geologists have examin¬ 
ed. Where the sandstone of the coal formation re¬ 
clines on mountain limestone, which lays on schistose 
rocks covering granitic mountains, the desire to abo¬ 
lish the transition gains fresh support. 

Where transition rocks exist, they should be con¬ 
sidered as belonging to the secondary region, since, 
strictly speaking, they are universally of that forma¬ 
tion. 

In our own country, the secondary, whether used • 
in the usual acceptation, or in the extended sense 1 
now propose, forms the greatest and fairest portion 
of our soil. 

The primary range, extending like a spine through 
our Atlantic states, forms a support to the vast coun¬ 
try stretching to the north and west; while on the 
south and east, it offers resistance to the force of the 
Atlantic, which has rolled to the tertiary, reposing at 
its base, the alluvial which forms so conspicuous and 
valuable a portion of our southern states. It seems, 
indeed, a giant arm, which, issuing from the north 
pole, has elevated our immense continent from the 
bed of ocean, and upholds it against the war of ele¬ 


ments. 


8 


Reposin;^ on the base of this primary, our seconda¬ 
ry runs off to the west, until, interrupted by the 
Rocky Mountains, it reposes again on the primitive. 
It is covered on tiie south by the tertiary and alluvial 
of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and compo¬ 
ses nearly three fourths of the whole union. 

In this secondary, as indeed in the secondary of 
every country where salt exists, is to be found the 
American salt formation. I use the word formation 
as it is generally used ; and can only add my unit to 
the many who uphold the term, while they reprobate 
its use. Although not absolutely expressive of the 
idea intended to be conveyed, it is, nevertheless, full 
as explicit as most of the terms in any modern sci¬ 
ence, and should be retained until the unanimous 
consent of both hemispheres be obtained to the intro¬ 
duction of another, which, after all, may be better or 
worse, as chance may direct. 

As an article, salt has ever contributed much to 
the comforts and luxuries of man, and has been 
known and used since the earliest ages. The ante-' 
dihwians were acquainted vvith its properties .and 
uses in an accurate degree, as we may judg(§'''Trom 


the mention made of it in the Old Testament. In 
the New Testament it is used by our Saviour as 
an emblem of perperu> -y, as the symbol of wisdom, 
of incorrupiion of mind, ciiid of sincerity. 


9 


Agreeably to the universal law pervading the whole 
creation of the Omnipotent, in which order and regu¬ 
larity are so coiispicnoiis as to overwhelm the doc- 
tine of chance, salt is always accompanied by its 
own peculiar minerals ; these are red sand-stone, 
gypsum, clay, and coal. 

I 

The plants growing on the borders of salt springs 
are similar to those grow ing on the sea shore, viz. 
the triglochin maritimum, salicornia, salsola kali, as- 
tortripolium, glaux maritima, &c. On one part of 
our salt formation have been observed the atriplex, 
chenopodium and anabasis. 

Independent of the vast accumulation of salt ex¬ 
isting in the ocean, amounting to nearly one thirtieth 
of its whole, it is found solid, in the form of rock salt, 
and in solution in brine springs, from which it is 
obtained by the process of evaporation. 

Rock salt exists in many countries, and is an ar¬ 
ticle of extensive commerce. 

Jibbel Had-deffa, in the kingdom of Tunis, is an 
entire mountain of salt, situate at the eastern extremi¬ 
ty of the Lake of St. Mark. The salt is of a reddish, 
or purple colour, hard and solid as stone, and of a 
different quality and appearance from that of the 
salinee surrounding it. A portion of it is w^ashed 


10 


down by the dews, becomes white as snow, and loses 
the sharp bitterness of the parent rock. 

The salt of the mountains near Levotaiah and of 
Miniss is of a grey bluish colour, and, without sub¬ 
mitting to the like accidental purification, is quite 
agreeable to the palate. Of like quality and flavour 
is the salt from the Lake of St. Mark, the chief stra¬ 
tum of which is like a tessalated pavement, made 
up of various little cubes of common salt. 

In the north of Africa it occurs, in great quantities, 
on both sides of the Atlas mountains. Mr. Home- 
man, on a journey from Cairo, discovered a plain, 
on a limestone range, which bounds the de.Neris of 
Lybia to the north, consisting of a mass of rock 
salt, spread over so large a surface that no eye 
could reach its termination ; and its width he com¬ 
puted at several miles. To the south-east of Abys¬ 
sinia is a plain of salt four days journey across, 
whence all that country is supplied. 

Cardona, in Catalonia, is one of the most remarka¬ 
ble localities of rock salt. It seems to be an inde- 

t 

pendent formation in a valley a league in circumfe¬ 
rence, the surface of which is covered with a vegitablc 
soil. At one end of it is a promontory of red salt 
GGO feet high, without crevices, chasms, or layers. 
It is about a league in circumference, and in height 
equal to the surrounding mountains. As its depth is 
jiot known, we cannot sav on what it rests. 


11 


In La Mancha is a similar mass of salt 70 yards in 
diameter, mixed with, and covered by, sulphate of 
lime, including crystals of red quartz- 

Near the river Ebro a chain of hills, extending 
from east to west, is composed of salt, gypsum, and 
limestone. 

Near Ockna, in Moldavia, is a hill of rock salt, in 
many parts of which the salt appears to view. 

The Isle of Ormus, in the Persian Gulf, is said to 
be a sottd mass of rock salt. Similar masses exist 
on the east of Persia. 

In Caubul the rock salt rises in a cliff more than 
100 feet above the river ; it is hard, clear, and almost 
pure, and the road is cut in it. In some places it is 
streaked, or tinged, of a blood-red colour, similar to 
that of the earth in the vicinity. It is connected with 
red sand stone. 

The valley of Paraid, in Transylvania, has the 
bottom and sides of solid salt exposed to view : the 
sides being mural, and more than 200 feet high. 

Ill Cheshire, in England, is a salt mine worked 
since 1670, resting upon, and surrounded by red sand¬ 
stone. It is roofed by clay, and the upper bed rests 
upon a stratum of clay, intermediate between the two 
beds of salt. There are several other beds of salt in 
England, affording a handsome revenue to the crown j 


r 


12 


and allowing a greater quantity for exportation alone 
than is produced by any other district in the world: 
exporting annually more than 140,000 tons, or 
5,000,000 bushels, and occasionally 236,000 tons, or 
8,500,000 bushels ; while the whole produce of the 
Polish mines does not exceed 7,000 tons, or one 
twentieth of the quantity usually exported by Eng¬ 
land.* 

The long celebrated mines of Poland, or rather of 
Gallicia, since the dismemberment of that unhappy 
country, are the most extensive known, and form 
part of the greatest salt formation yet discovered. 

They have been worked constantly since 1250. 
The extent of the mine is not known, although it has 


The value of the British salt works may be estimated from 
the following Table of exports from Liverpool. 



U. States. 

Elsewhere. 

Total. 

Exported in 1807, 

bmhels. 

bushels. 

bushels. 

2,446,351 

4,822,974 

7,289,325 

1808, 

2,514,670 

5,630, 62 

8,144,732 

1809, 

1, 14, 86 

4,854,202 

5,868,288 

1810, 

1,638,716 

6,502,399 

8,144,115 

1811, 

1,870,368 

6,722,122 

8,592,489 

1812, 

394,541 

4,870,704 

5,265,245 


In 1815 the revenue to the crown, from 

salt, amounted to £1,616,612 

Of which went to the Collectors 183,414 


Leaving a net revenue^ of 


£1,433,198 


or, 


),363; 


99 - 12 . 


\ 








13 


been worked in every direction, and lias been driven 
in one place 1200 yards by 400, and 240 yards deep. 

They are not confined to one side of the primary 
range, but are found on both edges of it. To the 
south-east the salt is solid, and so near the surface, 
that the rains wash off its covering of soil. The 
bottom of it has never been found. On the south¬ 
west, it is wrought by shafts and galleries; and the 
article is so plenty, that the miners are paid for such ^ 
pieces only as weigh 40 killagrames, (more than 
SGlbs.) 

These localities of rock salt are sufficient for our 
purpose; they are the most important; but there are 
many more, should it at any time be deemed neces¬ 
sary to draw geological conclusions, analogically, in 
regard to the position of our own salt formation. 

I have mentioned that the ancients were acquaint¬ 
ed with the nature and uses of rock salt. It seems 
probable that the columns of fossil glass, in which, 
according to Herodotus, the Abyssinians enclosed 
the mummies of their relatives, w^ere onlv masses of 
rock salt, a substance very common in that part of 
Africa. According to the same author, the inhabi¬ 
tants of Lybia, so called by the ancients, built their 
houses of it. 

Chardin, in his travels in Turkev, savs, that it is ^ 


f 


14 


used for the same purpose in Caramania, where it is 
solid and hard, and the atmosphere verj dry. And 
Pliny says, that in Arabia they construct houses of 
it, consolidating the whole by sprinkling water upon 
it. 


Many of the most productive and interesting loca¬ 
lities of salt, are evinced by salt springs, affording 
brine, holding in solution, more or less, muriate of 
soda, which is extracted by evaporation. In speak¬ 
ing of rock salt, I should have mentioned, that many 
of the mines yield salt too impure for use. In such 
cases it undergoes simple solution and evaporation. 

This is the case with most of the salt worked in the 
vicinity of Nortwich, (England,) and tlie same is 
applicable to the Polish mines. Indeed, under the 
head of brine springs should be mentioned the Carpa¬ 
thian salt; for although tliat formation is worked by 
sixteen mines, and has more than forty other mines 
not worked, still it gives rise to about four hundred 
and thirty brine springs, nearly saturated with the 
mineral. 

It is for this place that I have reserved the American 
salt fonnation, sin(*e, thus far, all the salt produced 
in our country, with the exception of sea or bay 
salt, has been procured by the evaporation of natural 



15 


brine. Rock salt is said to exist, in extensive strata, 
in Upper Louisiana, but its existence is doubted, 
although incrustations are seen in many places. The 
exploring expedition, commanded by Major Long, 
saw large masses of salt, weighing from 20 to 301bs, 
but were unwilling to acknowledge it as rock salt, 
because it exhibited a crystalline structure interiorly. 
This, however, should not be deemed conclusive evi¬ 
dence against the existence of rock salt, or even as 
going to prove that these very specimens were not 
rock salt. It is sometimes found in plates, stalactitic, 
reniform, tuberose, cellular, and crystallized in cubes, 
which is the primitive form. Here is a natural spe¬ 
cimen, having the primitive form beautifully defined, 
from Sicilv, whence I brouojht it in 1819. 'Iliese 
others are from Hungary and Poland ; and, though 
native specimens, might by many be mistaken for 
artificial. The attempt to crystallize, on a large 
scale, is to be seen in one* of the English mines, 
where the roof seems formed into something of a 
basaltic structure. So in Poland, too, is observed a 
similar polygonal structure supposed to arise from 
large globules pressed on all sides by others. 

Although we have many large and valuable incrus¬ 
tations of salt, it is altogether certain that the mouu- 


16 


tains of this mineral, which were formerly said to 
exist in Louisiana, were in a degree fabulous ; though 
the springs of that country could afford sufficient salt 
for home consumption, should it ever be necessary 
to work thevn with that view. At present, perhaps, 
it would not be deemed expedient to attempt making 
more than we do, since w^e can import it cheaper than 
we can afford to make it. 

Under the enlightened views of tlie present admin¬ 
istration, there is little doubt that our natural resour¬ 
ces will iM’ brought to light, and put into operation, 
so far as the national welfare demands. The last 
step of congress, with regard to the salines of the 
west, that of granting them to the individual states 
in which they are situate, will tend to render them 
more productive. Thus all the salt springs in Illinois, 
including those in the vicinity of Shawneetown, have 
been ceded to that state. The salines of Missouri 
liave not yet been leased out; but grants for wmrking 
them can easily be obtained. Governor Miller, of 
Arkansas, is authorized to grant leases for the very 
valuable salt springs discovered in that state. 

The works now' in operation in the United States, 
yield annually about 1,200,000 bushels, of which the 
state of New-York furnishes more that one half, 
or about 700,000 bushels. 


17 


During the commercial year of 1822, there were 
exported from ihe United States 24,328 bushels of 
salt Our imports, during the same period, will be 
seen by the following statement, taken from the 
official report, viz. 


Where from. 

No. of 
Bushel. 

Value. 

England, Man, and Berwick, - - - - 

l,Gy^i!,398 

^307,451 

British West India Islands, - - - - 

781,194 

114,549 

Swedish West India Islands, - - - - 

31,142 

6,056 

Danish West India Islands, . - - . 

11,727 

3,767 

Dutch W. Indies and American colonies, 

186,192 

33,4671 

Scotland,. 

4,891 

550 

Ireland, . .. 

83,372 

15,517 

Cuba, - .. 

18,491 

4,267 

Other West India Islands, - - - - 

11,673 

1,723 

Sp-anish South American Colonies, - - 

642,972 

64,686 

Gibraltar,. 

48,614 

5,860 

British American Colonies, - - - - 

55,101 

16,048 

Other British Colonies,. 

48,270 

7,256 

Hanse Towns and Ports of Germany, - 

13,880 

1,265 

Fren. European Ports on the Atlantic, 

98,440 

8,319, 

-on the Miditerranean, 

262 

56 

Hayti, -. 

23,089 

3,757 

Span. European Ports on the Atlantic, - 

61,263 

4,400 

-on the Mediterranean, 

90,889 

8,745 

Tenerilfe and other Canaries, - - - 

4,856 

701 

Spanish South American Colonies,* 

4,872 

699 

Portugal,.- 

642,972 

64,686 

Fayal and other Azores, . . - - 

18,315 

1,882 

Cape Verd Islands, ------ 

54,836 

4,572 

Italy and Malta, ------- 

90,733 

8,826 

West Indies,.--. 

10,396 

1,590 

South Seas,. 

108 

24 

Total. 

4,087,381 

$ 625,932 


* It is probable that there is a mistake in this report, as the Spanish South 
American colonies are cited twice ; and, in one instance, credited with ex¬ 
actly the same number of bushels as rortugal. 






























18 


By which it will be seen that Great Britain, in 
conjunction with her isl'xiids and colonies, furnished 
ns nearly two thirds of our whole comsumprion, viz. 
2,713,840 bushels, equal in vahie to ;$f467,231, being 
at the rate of I6 j- cents per bushel. 

Thus there is a balance against us in the salt trade 
of 4,063,053 bushels, equal in value to ^613,932. 

No accurate estimate can be made of the quantity 
of bay salt, or salt from sea water, made in the Uni¬ 
ted States. 

According to a pretty correct calculation, the quan¬ 
tity of salt consumed during the year 1822 was about 
6,500,000 bushels; so that the bay salt manufactur¬ 
ed must have amounted to more than one and a half 
million of bushels ; the sum total of w’^hich w^as pro¬ 
duced by the eastern and southern states. The ex¬ 
tensive works in Massachusetts were very produc¬ 
tive some years ago, but were suffered to decay, until 
restored by the liberal spirit of some enterprising 
individuals. They now furnish a very considerable 
supply, wdiich is used in that state for the curing of 
fish. A few years since light roofs, moveable on 
rollers, were erected to protect the works from the 
summer rains ; but the cost, being one thousand dol¬ 
lars for the erection of ten thousand superficial stpiare 
feet, was more than the proceeds warranted. At 


19 


present there are on Cape Cod, 600,000 feet of vats, 
or pans; on the other shores of the state, about 
200,000 feet, making collectively 800,000, giving 
an annual average of 300 bushels of salt to 1000 feet 
of works, or 240,000 bushels for the whole state. 
Rhode Island and Connecticut furnish individually a 
large share of bay salt 

t. 

The southern Atlantic states enjoy a climate ad¬ 
mirably adapted to the evaporation of sea water, their 
long and hot summer allowing sufficient time and 
heat. On the coast of North Carolina, works were 
erected in 1810, covering 275,000 square feet. I do 
not know if they have answered the sanguine ex¬ 
pectations of the projectors. But if properly con¬ 
ducted, they should afford nearly a sufficiency for the 
whole country. In a higher latitude of France they 
produced, by the evaporation of sea water, in one 
month, nearly enough for the home consumption of 
the whole kingdom during the year ; and the sea 
water there is not quite so salt as on our southern 
coast. The production of salt from the ocean is 
always of consequence, and more particularly to those 
states possessing no salines, and having no inland 
navigation to such states as have salt works. In 
Wilmington, North Carolina, only 34 miles from the 
coast, salt was sold, during the last war, at seven doF 




20 


lars per bushel. Bay salt is frequently superior to 
rock salt for the purposes of preserving provisions; 
and so firmly are the English persuaded of this fact, 
that during peace they import salt very largely from 
France and Holland. In France salt pays a duty to 
the crown of thirteen and a half francs per bushel; 
the manufacture of which from sea water costs about 
ten cents: so that the duty amounts to twenty-seven 
times the original cost* 

That part of the shore of New-Jersey situate be¬ 
tween Sandy-Hook and the Delaware bay, is well 
adapted to the manufacture of salt from sea water. 
If properly erected and managed, the works, at a 
comparitively trifling expense, might be made very 
productive. 

In France, according to Necker, the annual con¬ 
sumption of salt w^as an average of 141bs. to each 

*1 

* The government of France appears to have been as impolitic 
with regard to this tax as the English. Buonaparte abolished 
the collection of turnpike dues, and imposed a tax on salt, pay¬ 
able at the salt pans, in its stead. It is not perhaps generally 

known, that by the aid of this tax he was enabled to complete 
the grand entrance into Italy, over the Simplon : so that it may 
fairly be observed, that if Hannibal was enabled to cross the 
Alps by the aid of vinegar, Bonaparte, by the assistance of 
salt, succeeded in constructing a public road over the • same 
mountains .—Paris Pharmac, 




21 


individual In Cumana and Barcelona, according to 
Humboldt, the average consumption is 60 lbs. per in¬ 
dividual. In the United States, 36 lbs. is the aver- 

I 

age consumption of each person. 

It appears, from a careful examination of the most 
accurate returns, that the European salt mines and 
springs afford annually thirty million hundred weight 
of salt; equal to about fifty millions of bushels. 

Although salt may, as has been supposed, be one 

t - - 

of the universal formations, having an extent equal to 
the stratafied rocks, yet it seems rather an indepen¬ 
dent formation, in which salt may have been formed 
at the same or different times, but under the same 
laws, in different parts of the same continent. 

The American salt formation extends over the 
continent, from the Alleganies to the North P.acific, 
between 31 and 45® north latitude. In this immense 
tract rock salt has been occasionally found, but its 
locality is more generally pointed out by brine 
springs. 

In Peru, indeed, in South America, but which is 
not included in this formation, rock salt, at the sur- 
prising height of 10,000 feet, on the grand chain of 
the Andes, is found in hard blocks, and forms solid 


4 


continuous rocks. The exterior form of the salt 
strikes at first sight, for it resembles a stone of a dull 
violet colour, strewed with rays of jasper. These 
mines of salt are found nearly all over the country ; 
and what is worthy of remark, is its extreme hard¬ 
ness, its colour, and that it should be in those moun¬ 
tains equally as high as those which yield silver or 
mercury, which is certainly extraordinary. 

At Punta Araya immense blocks of it are taken from 
themuriatiferous clay. The south bank of the vast 
gulph of Cariaco is impregnated with muriate of 
soda, and was once covered by the ocean, as incon- 
testibly, says Humboldt, as the basins of Paris, Rome, 
or Oxford. The salt at Araya was known to Alonzo 
Ninno, when, following the steps of Columbus and 
Amerigo Vespucci, he visited these countries in 
1499, and was, perhaps, the earliest discovered in 
America. At that time the Guayquerias dug into the 
muriatiferous soil of Punta Arenas. The brine pits 
of Cape Araya were worked at very early periods. 
The Spaniards, who settled at Cumana, in the be- 
gining of the 16th century, worked the salt marshes, 
which have since been in operation. At that period 
the Dutch secured to themselves the peninsula of 
Araya; and in 1605, the court of Madrid sent armed 
ships to expel them by force of arms. At present 


23 


each province has its own salt works, and of so little 
consequence are they estemed by the mother country, 
that the merchants of Spain and Portugal send salt 
to cure meats at Monte Video and Bueonos Ayres, 
a distance of 1900 leagues. In 1799, the salt 
works of Araya yielded a clear income of 3,000 
piastres. 

Though manufactured with less care in the pen¬ 
insula of Araya than at the salt works of Europe, it 
is nevertheless purer, and contains less of the earthy 
sulphats and muriats. 

In Mexico the salt lake of Pennon Blanco yields 
annually 250,000 fanegas of unpurilied salt, of 400lbs. 
each. 

In California rock salt occurs in very large quan¬ 
tities. 

Approaching homewards, and crossing the primary 
chain, which by some may be considered as the west¬ 
ern boundary of the American salt formation^ salt 
is found in abundance on the plains east of the Rocky 
Mountains, in incrustations, covering lands of some 
extent. The exploring party under major Long, 
however, saw none that they considered rock salt, 
but rather such as was the effect of ev aporation, being 
crystalline salt, formed, by the desiccation of some 
salt loke, info concrete masses, or crusts, upon the 
ground, having red sandstone attached to them. 


24 


The great saline to the south west of Fort Osage 
has a circumference of 30 miles, which, in many 
places, is covered \yith drift wood, scattered over it 
by the streams near to it. The salt lies from two to 
six inches deep, and forms a crust very beautiful, 
clear, and white, much superior to the common im¬ 
ported salt. It is associated with gypsum and clay. 

The existence of these incrustations is sufficient 
indication of their connection with beds of salt. The 
fact of salt brine springs being found in red sand- 
Stone, is enough of itself to warrant the conclusion. 
Not that red sandstone may not exist without rock ^ 
salt, but it may be doubted if rock salt ever exist, in 
quantity, in other strata except in muriatiferous 
clays ; the few exceptions that we know of going to 
prove the general rule. 

The whole country near the Rocky Mountains 
abounds in licks, brine springs, and saline efflores¬ 
cences ; but it is near the red sandstone that salt is ♦ 
met with in greatest abundance and purity. 

The immediate valley of the Canadian River, in 
the upper part of its course, varies in width from a 
few rods to three or four miles, but is almost in¬ 
variably bounded by precipices of red sand-rock, 
forming the river bluffs. In the valley between 
these, incrustations of nearly pure salt are found. 


25 


/ 


covering the surface to a great extent, in the manner 
of a thin ice, and causing it to appear, when seen from 
a distance, as if covered with snow. 

The waters of the country, between the meridian 
of the Council Bluffs and the Rocky Moimtahis, in 
almost every part of it, appear to hold in solution a 
greater or less proportion of common salt and sul- 
* phate of magnesia, rendering them frequently too 
brackish and bitter for use. The whole of this coun¬ 
try is said to bear a manifest resemblance to Siberia, 
abounding in rocks and soils strictly saline. 

The saliniferous sands of the Siberian plains are 
supposed, by Patrin, to be derived from granitic 
mountains, containing muriate of soda, and which, 
he thinks, has been one cause of'the destruciion of 
many of them, and which at this day promotes the 
decomposition of many that still remain. I know 
not if he would attribute to the same cause the saline 
efflorescences found on the sandy plains of Tartary, 
in arid Arabia, in scorched Africa, and on the im¬ 
mense plains of India and Persia. 

Illinois abounds with salt. The most important 
work is near Shawneetown, where there are now 
seven furnaces in operation to extract salt from the 
water of three wells, which used to flow on the sur- 


26 


face at the rate of sixteen ^jallons per minute. These 
works, which have produced 200,000 l)ushe}s in a 
year, at present yield 150,000 bushels, worth about 
70 cents on the spot. Two hundred and fifty gallons 
of brine yield 50lbs. of salt. Near one of the wells 
is a basin-shaped cavity of about four hundred feet 
in circumference, the soil in and about which is inti¬ 
mately blended with fragments of earthenware. In 
the centre of it a well has been sunk, w hich affords 
a more concentrated brine, 110 gallons yielding 501 bs. 
of salt. Circumstances countenance the idea that 
this spring has been worked in early ages; perhaps, 
by the aborigines. In digging this well, the first 
fourteen feet were a slight earth, mixed with ashes 
and fragments of earthenware; the remaining four¬ 
teen were through a bed of clay, deeply coloured 
with oxyd of iron, and containing fragments of pot¬ 
tery. The clay has something of the appearance of 
having been subjected to the action of fire. In a drain, 
which seems to have answered the purpose of carry¬ 
ing away superabundant water, is a layer of charcoal, 
six inches deep, and four feet below the surface. The 
stones in the vicinity seemed as if they had been 
burnt. 

I should mention that charcoal is found above all 
the salt mines and brine springs of the Carpathian 
formation. 


27 


Four miles west of this point is another well, 
sixt) feet deep ; in digging, the workmen struck, 

1. A bed of tenacious blue clay, 20 feet thick, at 
the bottom of which is a small spring of salt 
water. 

2. A bed of similar clay 25 feet thick, and, 

3. A quick sand bed of 10 feet, at the bottom of 
which is a large vein of salt water. 

Bones of the mammoth and other animals were 
found in both the clay and sand. 

The original reservation at these salines com¬ 
prised 92,160 acres of woodland, and was transferred 
by the United States to the state of Illinois, which 
now derives from its different salines an annual 
revenue of about 10,000. 

In Missouri^ Boon’s Lick, long known, furnishes 
the wants of the neighbouring settlements. Several 
furnaces are erected for the evaporation of a weak 
brine; 450 gallons of which yield a bushel of salt. 
Eighty bushels are made daily, and require three 
cords of wood. Compact limestone is the pre¬ 
vailing rock ; but coal beds and strata of sandstone 
abound in the vicinity. 

Lockhart’s salt works, on the Saline. River, yield 
500 bushels of salt [)er week. The diggings, so often 


28 


mentioned as existing here, seem to have been pro¬ 
duced by wild cattle, resorting hither in large herds, 
and licking the ground for the sake of the salt con¬ 
tained in it. Four miles further north, on the Saline 
Fork of Le Mine River, is another establishment, 
where 180 gallons of brine produce a bushel of salt. 
One hundred bushels are manufactured per week, and 
eight men are employed in the works. 

There are several small works for the manufac¬ 
ture of salt in other parts of this state. 

In Arkansas^ independent of the saline incrusta¬ 
tions, there are many valuable salt springs. On the 
Grand, or Neosho river, 50 miles above its junction 
with the Arkansas, in an alluvial basin, are valuable 
salt water springs, quite pellucid, issuing copiously 
from the surface in various directions. One of the 
springs emits fetid bubbles of sulphuretted hydro¬ 
gen gas. The only well dug for salt water is about 
five feet deep ; eighty gallons of brine produce a 
bushel of salt, and 120 bushels are manufactured 
weekly. The water is said to be so strong, that 
after the second boiling it is not necessary to remove 
the lye. The salt is pure white on the first boiling, 
and is said to contain none but volatile impurities. 
The well is in dark-coloured limestone, containing 
shells. No marine plants appear in the vicinity. 


29 


Oil the illiriois, a few miles above its junction with 
the Arkansas, are Bean’s salt springs. They are 
siniiltir to, and scarcely less productive than those on 
Grand River. In digging his wells, the workmen 
Struck, about two feet from the surface, a stratum of 
charcoal, which affords conjectures, at least, that this 
locality has been known and worked by the abori¬ 
gines. 

On the Wachitta are springs yielding a large pro¬ 
portion of the muriate of soda; but I am not prepa¬ 
red to say exactly how many bushels are manufactured 
yearly; the quantity has been estimated at 50,000 
bushels. 

Most of the streams north of the Arkansas are 
said to possess salt, which might be wrought with 
profit; on the north side of the Arkansas the salines 
are connected with the coal formation ; on the south 
they occur in red clay. 

In Ohio are many salt wells; that of Zanesville, 
on the Muskingum, is 213 feet deep, and furnishes 
80 bushels of salt daily ; 95 gallons of brine give a 
bushel, worth on the spot 50 In Jackson, on 
the Scioto, and on the Hockhocking, are several salt 
springs ; in one a shaft has been sunk 300 feet: but 
the brine has proved weak, requiring 213 gallons to 




30 


the bushel. There are many other springs in this 
state, some of which are very valuable. 

In Kentucky the salines of the Little Sandy River 
are the most productive, yielding annually about 
10,000 bushels. The waters, like those of Ken- 
ha wa, &c. hold in solution, besides the muriate of 
soda, the sulphate of soda, sulphate of lime, and a 
small portion of the sulphate of magnesia. Lime¬ 
stone and sandstone are the only rocks found in the 

T 

vicinity. The brine at May’s lick issues from allu¬ 
vial argillaceous soil. There are other salines, yield¬ 
ing about ten thousand bushels. 

In Virginia are several valuable salines ; the most 
important are in Wythe county, and on the Grand 
Kenhawa River. The latter has a very strong brine, 
95 gallons yielding a bushel of salt. The whole 
produce of this work is 30,000 bushels yearly. The 
rocks in the vicinity are secondary, and connected 
with lime, variegated sandstone, and bituminous 
shale. All the salt of this state is connected with 
gypsum. 

In - Pennsylmnia the works on the Conemaugh 
Creek produce upwards of 100 bushels a day, which 


31 


sells at nearly two dollars per bushel. After various 
attempts for 28 years, and sinking a shaft to the depth 
of 373 feet, the greater part of the way through 
solid rock, a good supply of brine has been procured 
in Susquehanna county, where excellent salt has 
been manufactured from it. Preparations are making 
to carry on the manufacture in an extensive man¬ 
ner. 

In our ow’n state are numerous and productive 
salt springs. In fact, New~York possesses inex- 
haustible sources of wealth in her brine springs, ex¬ 
tending through the counties of Onondago, Cayuga, 
Seneca, Ontario, Niagara, Genessee, Tompkins, 
Wayne, and some small unwrought ones in Oneida. 
The most important now worked are those of Onon¬ 
dago, of Montezuma, (Cayuga county) and Galen, 
(Wayne county,) which I shall describe. 

The Onondago, or Salt Lake, as it is frequently 
termed in its vicinity, is six miles long and two miles 
broad ; it is supplied by the Onondago and Otisco 
Creeks, and emptied by the Otsego River into Lake 
Ontario. The lake, with its vale, is surrounded* by 
hills of limestone containing organic remains. Abun¬ 
dance of gypsum has also been found associated with 
the salt, in the same manner as has been observed in 
Europe. 


32 


The most easterly point at which salt springs have 
been observed in New-York is about twenty-five 
miles west of Utica : forty miles farther west are the 
salt springs of Onondago. The most westerly point at 
which they have been as yet discovered is at Saint 
Katherines, in Canada. 

The country, or valley, of the Onondago is seve¬ 
ral feet below the level of the adjacent plains, and 
consists of an indurated red and green clay, with 
their intermediate varieties, resembling the substance 
brought from Arran, and described by Professor 
Jameson as indurated lithomarga. The springs rise to 
the surface on the borders of the lake, and even far 
up the creek supplying it with water. On the bor¬ 
ders of this creek, springs of fresh and salt water rise 
within a few feet, and, in some instances, within a 
few inches, of each other. The quantity of salt held 
in solution varies greatly in different springs, even in 
those that are contiguous. The strength of the brine 
is influenced by the temperature of the season. Du¬ 
ring the last summer, which was there a remarkably 
dry season^ the s[)rings continued to discharge their 
usual quantity of water, but it was weaker than had 
been before observed. Many of them are desMted 
on finding others of a stronger brine. The strength 
of these springs is comparatively very great, as will 


/ 


ss 


be seen by the following list of brines 
ducts: 

, and their 

pro- 

At Nantucket, 350 g’s of sea water give a bushel of salt. 

Boon’s Lick, (Miss.) 450 gallons of brine 

do. 

do. 

Conernaugh, (Pen.) 300 do. 

do. 

do. 

Shawneetown. (llli.) 280 do. 

do. 

do. 

Jackson, (Ohio) 213 do. 

do. 

do. 

Lockhart’s, (Miss.) 180 do. 

do. 

do. 

Shawneetown (2d s.) 123 do. 

do. 

do. 

St. Katherines(U.C.)120 do. 

do. 

do. 

Zanesville, (Ohio) 95 do. 

do. 

do. 

Kenhawa, (Virg.) 95 do. 

do. 

do. 

Grand River, (Ark.) 80 do. 

do. 

do. 

Illinois River (do.) 80 do. 

do. 

do. 

Salina, (New-York,) 45 do. 

do. 

do. 

The brine of Onondago has never 

been accurately 


analyzed. The following statement, made some years 
ago by Dr. Noyes, of Hamilton College, has never 
been published. It is to be considered rather as an 
approximation. He estimates 40 gallons, or 3561bs. 
avoirdupois of brine to produce 561bs. of saline ex¬ 
tracts ; of which is, 

lb. oz. 

Pure muriate of soda, 51 00 

Garb, of lime color’d byoxyde of iron, 0 G* 

Sulphate of lime, 2 4 

Muriate of lime, 1 12* 

Muriate of magnesia, perhaps 

It is to be remarked, that in this statement is not 
mentioned sulphate of soda, which is most probably 
present in very considerable quantity. 

A complete analysis of this water may soon be ex¬ 
pected from the Professor of Chemistry in the Uni¬ 
versity of this state. 


54 


If 


The salt springs and the surrounding country be¬ 
long to the state; but permission is given to any per¬ 
son, under certain limitations, to erect works and 
extract salt, upon paying into the treasury a duty 
^ of 12^ cents per bushel of 561bs. The leasing of the 
salt lots has been regulated by the legislature. 

Under the head of Onondago are usually comprised 
three villages, and their works, viz. 

Salina, where there are 50 furnaces or blocks. 

Liverpool, 20 do. 

Geddesburgh, 13 do. 

Total 83 

averaging each fourteen kettles, and each of them 
calculated to produce forty bushels a day, amounting 
to 3,320 bushels, or 664 barrels, at the rate of more 
than 1,000,000 bushels annually ;* which has a rea¬ 
dy sale oh the spot at from 15 cts. to 81 cts. 
per barrel; making one day’s manufacture ^1162. 

When the western canal is opened, it is supposed 
the salt from these works can be afforded, at Albany, 
at 37J- cents per bushel. While the canal was only 
partially opened, there were cleared at Syracuse, from 
April 18th to September 11th, 34,798 barrels, or 
173,990 bushels of salt. 


* This is calculated on the fact that every day is employed, 
which is not the case. 



35 


The politeness of the comptroller has allowed 
to copy from the state returns the quantity of salt 
inspected at these works, during the year ending 
August 6th, 1823, viz. 

Kevenue- 

Aug. 7, to Nov. 5, 1822, 145,626, at ]2icts.perb’l. 203 25 

Nov. 6, May 20,1823,300,862, do. do. 37,607 75 

May21, Aug. 5, 159,975, do. do. 19,996 89 

Total, 606,463, $75,807 89 

The revenue from these works is yearly augmenting, 
n 1800 the quantity of salt manufactured amounted 
to 42,754 bushels. In 1814 the superintendant re¬ 
ported 295,215 bushels of salt manufactured and 
inspected at the works of Onondago. The state 
duty was three cents per bushel, and the nett profit, 
after paying all expenses, was ^7,303 87 cents, to 
the government, of which ;^5,200 was expended 
upon roads. 

Tlie springs now used are all situate on the marshy 
edge of the lake. The one first worked is said to 
have been at Green’s Point, between Liverpool and 
Salina. A strong wooden curb is settled down from 
six to ten feet, and, until recently, the water was 
pumped out by hand. The principal source whence 
all the works are now supplied, is termed the Horse 
Spring, and is furnished with a powerful forcing 
pump, raising the water seventy feet above the lake, 
and giving 120,000 gallons per twenty-four hours. 




I 


36 


The brine is conveyed by wooden pipes to the dis^ 
tancp of two ‘niles, sapplying fhe villages of Geddes- 
burgh and Syracuse. The supply of water, and^ of 
course, the works, may be increased indefinitely. 
The forcing pump belongs to individuals, who receive 
two mills per bushel on all salt manufactured at the 
works. 

There are three kinds of salt manufactured at these 
villages; the common fine, the rectified fine, and 
the coarse salt. The common fine is made in the 
greatest quantity. The process employed seems to 
be very slovenly, and until lately many complaints 
were made of its quality. Legislative interference 
has abolished the causes of these murmurings, and 
introduced a better system of manufacture. The 
method now employed does not differ materially 
from that used in other countries. From twelve to 
sixteen kettles, holding from ninety to one hundred 
gallons each, are firmly set in brick work over a 
furnace. They are about three feet deep, and two 
in diameter. The form and size might be materially 
improved : they are certainly much deeper than ne¬ 
cessary. The foreign substances, (or bittern, as it is 
technically called,) is first extracted, and then the salt. 
The only mode they appear to possess of determining 
when the bittern is extricated from the brine, seems 
to be by observing how much of the water is evapo- 


« 


31 

rated. They then dip it out, and by observing a 
certain point to which the brine is boiled away, com¬ 
mence taking out the salt, which is thrown into a 
basket, suffered to drain for a few minutes, and is 
then fit for use. It may be readily imagined, from 
this rude process, that the salt cannot be very pure. 
It contains much muriate of lime, which adds to its 
whiteness, while it destroys its purity. It is thereby 
rendered in a great measure unfit for its most import¬ 
ant use, i, e. preserving provisions. It is estimated 
that each kettle will produce five bushels every 
twenty-four hours, requiring two cords of wood for 
the furnace during that time.* 

The refined, or rectified salt is made in small quan¬ 
tities here ; it is intended for the table, and comes to 
this market in small boxes and baskets of from i to 
31bs. each. It is equal to the finest imported. 

The manufacture oT coarse salt has lately been 
commenced at Syracuse, in the vicinity of the other 
works. It is produced by solar evaporation alone. 
The brine is poured into large shallow vats, furnished 


* It is much to be regretted that no competent person has been 
found to take charge of these works : thus far there has been a 
deficiency of knowledge manifested by the agents employed. 
It is most sincerely to be hoped that the companies now engaged 
may meet with a man who to zeal will unite intelligence. 

G 



38 


f 


\ 

with covers to protect them from the rain. The 
marsh mud and bittern being precipitated, the brine 
receives the technical name of pickle, which is 
drawn off into vats, and the deposit formed. The 
precise point at which the brine is converted into 
pickle, is determined by the appearance of cubical 
crystals of salt floating on the surface. Very little 
has, as yet, been manufactured ; but the proprietors 
are now erecting works, where it is intended to pro¬ 
duce annually 100,000 bushels ; and from the known 
enterprise of the gentlemen most largely concerned, 
there is no probability of a miscalculation. 

It is the general belief at Salina, that great masses 
of salt exist, and may be discovered near to the sur¬ 
face ; and the legislature have granted certain powers 
to persons searching for the mineral, securing to them 
certain valuable privileges on the successful termina¬ 
tion of their search. With the aid of such strong stimu¬ 
lus, added to the usual hope of gain, we may hope 
that fossil salt will be discovered, as it doubtless does 
exist in the vicinity, although, perhaps, at a con¬ 
siderable depth. Unless it should prove very pure, 
however, it would be necessary to redissolve it to 
obtain the salt of commerce. In which case it is at 
least problematical if it would add much to the value 
of the manufacture. 


39 


From the springs in the town of Salina, (including 
the villages of Salina, Syracuse, Liverpool, and Ged- 
desburgh,) it is calculated that at least three millions 
of bushels could be made annually, should the de¬ 
mand justify it, yielding the state a yearly revenue 
of ;^o75,000. 

Montezuma, in the county of Cayuga, embraces 
salt springs of great value. The works are owned 
by a company engaged in the manufacture of refined, 
or rectified salt. From the book's of the comptroller 
I was politely allowed to copy the returns, as fol- 
lows, showing the quantity of salt made, the revenue 
to the state, and the expense: 

Inspected, from Bushels. Revenue. Corn, to Supdnt. 

* at 7 1-2 per cent. 

Aug. 1, to Oct. 31, 1822, 3,332 ^416 60 $3123 

Oct.31,1822,to Jan. 31, 1823, 6,03li 628 93 47 16 

Jan. 31 to April 30, 1823, 3,207i 400 93 30 06 

April 30 to July 31, 1823, 2,726" 340 75 25 55 

14,297 1787 11 $134 00 

In 1810 the county of Cayuga furnished nearly 
60,000 bushels of salt. How much is made at pre¬ 
sent I have not been able to ascertain. 

In the county of Wayne, the town of Galen manu¬ 
factured about 150 bushels daily, in 1810; making 
an average of about 50,000 yearly. There are seve¬ 
ral other valuable salt springs in this county. 

Genesee county contains several valuable salines; 





40 


but they are not extensively vi^rought, yielding only 
a lew thousand bushels a year. 

Seneca county enjoys fine salt springs in Wolcott 
and the neighbouring towns ; but they are not pro¬ 
ductive at present. 

The salt springs in the counties of Ontario, Niaga¬ 
ra, Tompkins, and Oneida, have not been used thus 
far in the production of salt. They are individually 
of great worth to the proprietors and to the state, and 
will soon be iiiade productive. 

All the salt springs in our state, so far as my in¬ 
formation extends, are connected with lime and clay. 

The benefits derived from our salines may be ap- 
preeiated by knowing, that before salt was brought 
in quantity from Onondago, that necessary article 
sold in the western parts of Pennsylvania for five dol¬ 
lars a bushel; which, w^hen we compare the value 
of money at that time wdth the present standard, 
gives nearly double the price. Since salt has been 
furnished by the Conemaugh and Kenhawa works, 
it has fallen in price to less than three dollars per 
barrel. 

The strength of our salt springs is, upon an average, 
greater than those in Europe, though it is a matter of 


41 


no practical moment at the present day. It should 
be remembered, however, that many European brine 
springs have been estimated too highly. It has been 
repeatedly said, for instance, that the brine springs 
of Barton and Northwich, in England, yield six 
ounces of salt to the pound of brine, or more than 
one fourth part pure salt. Now, experiment proves, 
according to the minute investigations of the bishop of 
Landaff, that this cannot be true; for allowing that six¬ 
teen ounces of water can hold six ounces of salt in so¬ 
lution, and no more, it follows that no brine spring can 
yield six ounces of salt from a pint of brine, because 
sixteen ounces of water with six ounces of salt would 
be a saturated brine of twenty-two ounces : there ' 
fore, if twenty-two ounces of brine yield six ounces 
of salt, sixteen ounces of brine can yield only four 
and four-elevenths ounces of salt. So that the strong¬ 
est brine can yield very' little more than one fourth 
part its weight of salt. Cheshire salt brine gives 
twenty-two per cent.; in one remarkable case it gave 
twenty-five per cent. ; and once twenty-six per cent, 
of salt. 

In Switzerland, from thirteen to fourteen per cent, 
is the usual strength of the salt brine springs. In 
France, eleven per cent, is the average. 


42 


Most, or perhaps all our brine springs are original 
or primary sources. Sources are of two kinds : 

1. Those which rise immediately over the bed 
impregnating the water, or from a stratum immedi¬ 
ately connected with it, though perhaps at some dis¬ 
tance from the fossil. 

2. Those which rise from a collection of salt water 
made in a stratum not immediately connected with 
the impregnating mineral. 

It is not essential that a spring should rise imme¬ 
diately over a mineral charging its waters ; because, 
after being impregnated, it may flow over an imper¬ 
vious stratum, as grauwacke, for example, and rise, 
at a very considerable distance, pure and valuable 
brine; it is still a primary source. But a body of 
water flowing over salt, or any other mineral, and 
oozing through different strata, until it reaches one 
that it cannot percolate, and then follows it till, from 
some cause, (in what manner it matters not,) it rises 
to day, is a secondary source ; because it neither rises 
over the mineral, or any stratum immediately con¬ 
nected with it. 

In mountainous countries particularly, this is a 
subject of much importance, as the hopes of success 
are founded upon permanent sources, which the se¬ 
condary never are; being liable to be diverted from 


43 




their present channels by slight obstacles, and to rise 
in other places. Some of the salines in Switzerland 
are worked on this principle of sources, and it often 
happens that a vein of water is intercepted, and leaves 
the brine spring dry. 

At Halle, in Germany, and at many other places, 
mines are w^orked by cutting parallel galleries in the 
parent rock, and forming dykes, to turn water into 
them, where it remains until saturated. It is then 
drawn off and evaporated. In most cases judgment 
and experience are necessary in drawing water from 
salt pits, whether natural or artificial, where it repo¬ 
ses immediately on the salt. As the stratum of sa¬ 
turated water next the salt has an increased specific 
gravity, and will remain at the bottom, preventing 
the great volume of water from coming in contact 
with the mineral to be saturated in its turn, it is ne¬ 
cessary to keep the w^ater in motion. Experience 
has proved the great utility of this expedient, which 
will saturate the water in a much more expeditious 
and effectual manner than by allowing it to remain 
at rest. 


Of the Geological situation of the American salt 
formation, a general idea has been given in assigning 
boundaries to our secondary region. 



N 


44 

On comparing the geological relations of the great 
proportion of beds of rock salt and brine springs, it 
will at once be seen that they are most frequent at 
the base of mountain chains. The Carpnthian salt, 
accompanying that mountain chain for 600 miles on 
either side, is a proof of this. That formation em¬ 
braces the salt mines of Poland, Moldavia, Upper 
Hungary, and Transylvania, and is perhaps the most 
important known. The Swiss springs at Salins and 
Montmorat are at the foot of Jura. The principal 
salt formation of England is at some little distance 
from the west side of the hills, dividing the rivers that 
flow into the eastern and western seas. The most 
productive of our own springs are not far from the 
base and termination of the Allegany Mountains. 

Red sandstone is so intimately connected with 
salt, that by many it is considered as its peculiar 
repository. It is associated with our salt from the 
Allegany to the Rocky Mountains and Lake Huron, 
It exists with the salt of Cheshire, Northwich, and 
Hroitwich, in England • at Cardona, in Spain ^ at 
the foot of the Carpathian Mountains in Moldavia 
and Poland ; and in the higher regions of Peru. 
Similar to the same mineral, fragments of the im¬ 
mense bed once covering the whole valley of the 


45 


Mississippi from the Allegany to the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains, are to be seen, in situ, at the foot of the High 
Peak, where lofty and detached columns of dark red 
sandstone are irregularly scattered through a valley, 
some of them rising 300 feet above the plain, and 
perfectly inaccessible. It is also to be seen at the 
falls of the Missouri, on the Red and Canadian 
Rivers, on the borders of New Mexico, and on the 
Arkansa, and more than probably, according to Dr. 
E James, extending to the Red Rivers of Mexico, 
where it is covered with gre^y sandstone. The ex- 
ploring expedition under Major Long saw incrus¬ 
tations of salt which had been deposited by vvater 
flowing from the red sandstone hills in the vicinity, 
which are traversed in various directions by veins 
filled with gypsum. Near the Lake of the Hills 
Sir Alexander Mackensie mentions that brine oc¬ 
curs in red sandstone. 

Ill this red sandstone formation are the salines of 
Onondago, and we know not how far it may extend, 
or in what manner be connected with the stores of 
this mineral, supposed to exist at the north pole. 
In many places it passes under the secondary, and 
contains coal, gypsum, and brine, and, perhaps, says 
Governor Clinton, indulging the same ideas with 


7 


46 ' 

Mad lire, supports the vast horizontal formation ex¬ 
tending past Niagara to the unexplored north 

The red sandstone is one of the most extensive 
European formations, and besides supporting some 
of the most fertile parts of England, and the conti¬ 
nent, comprises, what is termed by the English ge¬ 
ologists, the inner basin of Europe. It forms also 
great part of Tartary, of Arabia, Persia, and Africa. 
Its decomposition proceeds from the iron it contains ; 
so that a metal of the greatest utility may, in the field 
of battle, or in the dreary desert, become the most 
pernicious to the human race. Well then might it 
occur to an Elector of Bradenburgh, the lord of a 
sandy region, to inquire, why God had created sand ? 

Sulphate of lime or gypsum is frequently found in 
connection with salt, or in its immediate vicinity. 

It is a singular circumstance that two of the most 
])owerful acids in nature should be found so intimately 
united, and almost blended, as is the case with the 
sulphuric and muriatic. We find sulphate of lime and 
muriate of soda in contact. Thus, at Arbonne, the 
gvpsum is so strongly impregnated with salt as to 
be worked tor the purpose of extracting it. Owing 
to their intimate union, salt usually contains a por¬ 
tion of gypsum, which is deposited during evaporation. 





47 


At La Mancha, in Spain, salt is mixed with, and 
covered by, gypsum. In the valley of Egarement, 
ill the south of Africa, there are beds of salt resting 
upon it. At Onondago the salines are surrounded 
by it. 

I cannot take it upon me to say that this gypsum, 
as is sometimes supposed, is formed by the decom¬ 
position of iron pyrites supplying the sulphuric acid, 
which unites with the subjacent lime This however 
might receive confirmation by a knowledge of the 
fact that marl and sand over gypsum generally, and 
especially when in connection with salt, has the red 
tinge belonging to the oxide of iron. 

In digging or boring for salt, it is generally ob¬ 
served, that the quantity of lime increases as the salt 
bed or spring is approached. 

Clay^ or marl, is most commonly found associated 
with salt, and by the miners is named metal. It forms 
beds covering, and sometimes alternating with, the 
salt; it is frequently mingled with it, and contains 
large isolated masses of it. 

At Weilitzka it forms a bed of ten yards deep over 
the salt: at Wilton, near Northwich, (in England) 
there are nineteen distinct strata of clav and marl, 
mixed, more or less, with sulphate of lime, over the 


48 


first bed of rock salt, and another between that and 
the next stratum ol salt. A' i'laita Araya the clay 
contains lar^e masses of fossil salt, and is also impreg¬ 
nated with the muriate of soda. At Shawneetown 
there is a stratum of blue clay, twenty yards deep, 
over a saline spring. 

In connection with the clay are often banks of sand 
and lime, containing organic remains; viz. teeth of 
mammiferous animals, fossil shells, carbonized wood, 
and bitumen, penetrating the clay, and giving its odour 
to the salt. Bivalve shells are found at Cracow, se¬ 
venty-two yards from the surface; crabs’ claws at 
eighty yards ; charred coal and salt and gypsum at two 
hundred yards : all of which go to prove an hypothe¬ 
sis presently to be supported, affirming beds of salt 
to be deposits from the ocean. 

Coal is frequently found in connection with salt. 

In this country, as in most of the salt formations of 
Europe, rock salt seems to have been formed previ¬ 
ous to the coal, being in beds having a geological 
position subsequent to coal formations. This is 
proved particularly at Liverpool, in Ohio, where a 
salt well yielded half a barrel of petroleum daily. 
The Sfilt mines in Transylvania contain much petro¬ 
leum, oozing into them. In lower coal strata, par- 


49 


ticularly in basin-shaped cavities, which have the ap¬ 
pearance of having once been lakes, brine springs are 
occasionally found. Near the Lake of the Hills, rock 
salt aad coal are found in red sandstone. 

It is more than probable that the coal and salt forma¬ 
tions keep pace with each other, on the west of the 
Alleganies, from Onondago to Ohio and Kentucky. 
The strata in which the latter is found invariable 
abound with impressions of culmaria and zoophy¬ 
tes, so common to coal fields. 

Sulphur is occasionally found with salt, but very 
rarely, as in Sicily. 

Other substances have been found, but very seldom 
with salt, united so as to form pebbles, in clays that 
are much distorted, and have thin beds irregularly 
placed. They are sometimes mixed, and minutely 
broken up, so as to form a brecchia, as at Bex, in 
Switzerland. 

In every department of science we find occasional 
deviations from customary laws ; even in animated 
creationlnature not unfrequently plays faotastic freaks 
in the production of monsters. Salt, in like manner, 
is sometimes found out of its usual situation. Thus, 
it is found, in what is called transition, near Madrid. 
In Castile is a mine of rock salt in the vast crater 


50 


of an extinct volcano, in which have been found 
pumice, puzzolana, and other volcanic productions. 

In the midst of the higher Alps, in the department 
of Mount Blanc, (Savoy,) and near St. Maurice, at 
the confines of the region of perpetual snow, is a 
salt rock, composed of sulphate of lime and muriate 
of soda, in such proportions that salt for use is ex- 

f 

tracted from it by the usual process of solution and 
evaporation. 

It is this, probably, that caused the observation of 
the geognost, that we should not be surprised to find 
salt among the primary rocks, and that he expected 
to do so. 


To account for X\\q production of salt, in the first 
instance, it may be supposed that marine plants may 
be constantly emitting chlorine gas just as terrene 
plants are giving out oxygen, and that their de¬ 
composition furnishes soda, which unites wdth the 
chlorine, after it has absorbed a sufficiency of oxygen 
from the water to become muriatic acid gas. Thus, 
submarine vegitation, constantly going on in the 
bosom of the ocean, supplies all the elements neces¬ 
sary to the production of fossil salt. 

In support of this theory it may be added, that in 



51 


such lakes, or inland seas, as produce no marine ve¬ 
getables, the waters are fresh and sweet. In the Black 
Sea there are no plants of marine growth, and the 
waters are scarcely brackish ; yet the shores of the 
Black Sea, in all directions, abound in fossil salt; 
which at least proves, that this sea does not receive its 
saltness from the fossil salt in its vicinity. Neverthe¬ 
less, it must be conceded, that as no human ingenuity 
has, as yet, succeeded in making marine plants vegi- 
tate any where but in the bed of the ocean itself, it will 
be most difficult to bring the hypothesis to the test of 
experiment, the only touchstone of truth. 


As to the origin of rock salt, the most satisfactory 
hypothesis is the supposition of its being deposited 
from sea ; or by the dessication of salt lakes for¬ 
merly covering our present continents. The objec¬ 
tion that the composition of rock salt is more pure 
than that from the sea water, which contains also sul¬ 
phate and muriate of magnesia, sulphate and muriate 
of lime, and sulphate of soda, is invalidated by the 
recollection that whatever impurities may exist in 
sea water, still, if the process of evaporation be con¬ 
ducted very slowly, the crystals are nearly pure.* 


* I may here add, though perhaps not strictly in place, that 
muriate of potash has been discovered in the rock salt of Upper 




52 


In some places the process is conducted so well, as 
at Lymington, in England, where it takes 12 days, 
that from the most impure, or mother water, it still 
contains only 12 parts in the 1000, or little more 
than 1 per cent, of impurities. If, then, the desicca¬ 
tion of lakes, or basins filled with salt water, be very 
slow, as it must be when the process is to be finished 
by natural evaporation, the muriate of soda would 
be crystallized before, the other salts, which being 

more deliquescent, might be separated and washed 

/ 

aw^ay. In the same way, the gypsum that usually 
accompanies salt might be deposited, and being 
nearly insoluble, would remain. 

That lakes of salt and fresh water have once 
covered much land, is not to be doubted in the face 
of so many incontrovertible facts as can be brought 
forward. Our own day oflfers proofs of the changes 


Bavaria an(l of Hallein. When dissolved in water, and freed 
by evaporation, of the greater part of sea salt which it contains, 
it precipitated the muriate of platinum. The precipitation, when 
calcined with oil, and heated with nitric acid, gave crystals of 
the nitrate of potash. The water of the saline of Rosenheim, 
in Bavaria, when evaporated, likewise precipitated the muriate 
of platinum. 

It is a singular coincidence, that about the same time that 
potash, in the form of a muriate, was found in rock salt, the 
same alkali, in form of a tntrate, should be discovered by Dr. 
Marcet, in the salt water of the ocean. 



53 


that are constantly taking place on the earth’s sur¬ 
face, by the desiccation of lakes, in whatever man¬ 
ner accomplished. Our own country, with our im¬ 
mense lakes or inland seas, wall one day exhibit a 
different picture to the eye of the geographer, 
the painter, and the geologist, from what it offers at 
present. If, as may readily be supposed, a vast lake 
once covered that portion of our country to the west 
of the Allegany Mountains, and w hich was eventually 
drawn off by the outlets cut by the St. Law rence 
and the Hudson, through the Highlands of Montreal, 
and New-York, we have an idea upon a grand scale 
of what will, at some future day, be the effect of 
draining our northern lakes. The falls of Niagara, 
gradually receding to the outlet of Erie, w ill eventual¬ 
ly discharge the w aters of the great lake and its 
tributary streams into Ontario, to dash rapidly dow n 
the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic, or to be distributed 
slowly as from a reservoir.* 


* Lake Erie is the most shallow of all our northern lakes, 
and contains the least water. It has an average depth of 120 feet, 
and is elevated above the tide waters of the Hudson, at Albany, 
boM feet; and about the same above the tide waters of the St. 
Lawrence. The difference of level between Lake Erie and 
Lake Ontario is 034 feet, leaving 231 feet for the difference of 
elevation between the bottom of Lake Ontario and the tide wa¬ 
ters in the St. Lawrence River. 

. 8 



54 


The bed of Erie will then form an extensive plain 
or vallej, bounded by the distant hills, and watered 
by a small lake or river, which will give passage to 
the St. Clair and Huron, and form a prolonged chan¬ 
nel to the River Detroit. Here the geologists of 
future periods will find a fresh water formation in 
succe.^sive strata upon the limestone bed. These 
strata will probably be a coarse sandstone with argil¬ 
laceous marl, containing fresh water shells; among 
others, some of the Uniones, so well described by our 
colleague Mr. Barnes. These wall be sedimentary 
fresh w ater formations produced almost entirely by 
mechanical means, i. e, the deposition of earthy mat¬ 
ters, coarse or fine, envclloping organized bodies. 
They may have a different structure from other fresh 
water formations. The layers may be distinct and 
nun)eious, with a coarse sandy grain, having the 
usual perforations to manifest the extrication of gas 


0 . . 

i’he following is the quantity of water computed to be con- 
tciined in our great nothern lakes. 



Medium 

Superficial area in ' 



depth. 

square feet. 

Solid contents in feet. 

Superior, 

900 feet 

836.352,000,000 

752,716,800,000,000 

Huron, 

900 

557,568,000,000 

501.811,200,000,000 

Michigan, 

900 

376,898,400,UOO 

339,208 560,000,t 00 

F.ne. 

120 

418,176,000,000 

50,181,120,000,000 

Ontario, 

492 

200,724,480,000 

98,756,444,160,000 


1 

2,389,718,880,000 

1,659,237,644,160,000 









from the limestone beneath. It may be similar to 
the fresh water formations of Paris and Rome : or . 

may resemble the molasse of Switzerland 

\ 

But we need not look either into ancient records, 
nor into futurity, to know that both salt and fresh 
water lakes have covered much of the earth ; and 
that they have^ and do, and, from analogy, will form 
deposits of soils and minerals. Salt lakes still exist 
in many places, as is known to us all. The zout 
pans, in the south of Africa, are salt lakes furnishing 
that country with salt. Some of them are more 
famous than others; but all are situate on a [)lain, at 
a considerable elevation above the sea; none being 
less than one hundred feet above it. A brief account 
of one will suffice for the rest. The greatest part of 
the bottom of the lake is covered with one continued 
body of salt, like a sheet of ice, the crystals so united 
as to form one solid body as hard as rock. The 
shore is similar to the sandy beach of the sea coast, 
covered with sandstone and quartzose pebbles. At 
this beach begins a thin crust of salt, increasing in 
thickness and solidity as it advances to the middle of 
the lake. Near its margin, where it is four or live 
inches thick, the salt is taken out with pick-axes, 
and is fit for use. The thickness of this bed at the 


56 


middle has never been ascertained, as the waters do 
. not subside. In endeavouring to account for the ac¬ 
cumulation of pure crystallized salt at the bottom of 
this lake, it might be considered an explanation suffi¬ 
ciently satisfactory, to say, the waters on the south 
coast of Africa contain a high proportion of salt. 
During the strong south-east winds of summer, the 
sea spray is carried a great distance into the country, 
in the shape of thick mist. The powerful and com¬ 
bined effects of the dry wind and sun carry on a 
rapid evaporation of the aqueous part of the mist, 
and, of course, a disengagement of the saline parti(des, 
which fall on the ground and the foliage of the shrub¬ 
bery. When the rains commence, they are dissolved 
ami carried in solution to the salt pan, towards which 
the country on every side inclines. 

The quantity of salt thus taken from the sea, and 
borne into the country, is so very great, that at the 
distance of many miles from the coast, the air is 
preceptibly saline when walking against it. The 
atmosphere is obscure, and objects at a short distance 
are not seen. These winds last for nearly two thirds 
of the whole year, and it is easy to conceive that in 
the lapse of ages an immense accumulation of salt 
can thus be formed. This lake is in red sandstone, 


V 


67 


and the salt is in some places tinged with the red 
colour of the oxide of iron. 

In Mexico the salt lake of Pennon Blanco, already 
noticed, yields annually 250,000 fanegas of unpuri¬ 
fied salt, of 4001bs. each, making an aggregate of 
about 1,785,714 bushels. 

Turks Islands are celebrated for salt ponds, which 
in some years have yielded more than 30,000 tons of 
salt for exportation. 

The occurrence of rock salt deep under the surface 
of the earth, or high above the level of the sea, forms 
no objection to its being a deposit from water, since 
all geologists allow, and undoubted facts prove, that 
the ocean once covered all the continents now known. 
Whether the earth has been elevated above the sea, 
or the sea depressed beneath the level of the earth, 
the valleys must have been filled with salt water, 
which, upon evaporation, deposited salt. At Car¬ 
dona, and other places, it seems to have been depo¬ 
sited in the red sandstone, or rather to be enveloped 
by it. Some of these valleys occur at great elevation : 
thus, the one in which is deposited the salt mine of 
Tyrol is 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. In 
the deserts of Peru is one 10,000 feet, according to 
Uiioa, above the sea. Others again are at various 


58 


depths beneath the surface; thus, one in England is 
245 yards, (735 feet) deep, being 140 yards, (420 
feet) beneath the level of the ocean. 

The difficulty which has been supposed to exist in 
accounting for the formation of strata under which 
rock salt is found, is in a great measure obviated by 
the organic remains found in them : proving that each 
stratum was once the uppermost and last formed on 
the globe, and was in turn covered by others at dif¬ 
ferent and distant periods. In the same way there 
are many strata occasionally covering coal and beds 
of shale, abounding in vegetable impressions. 

The situation of salt in beds or springs at the foot 
of mountain chains, as already mentioned, may in 
some measure tend to illustrate its formation, as it is 
probable, that they (the mountain chains) were once 
the boundaries of inland seas or lakes, when our con¬ 
tinents and oceans bore a different relative position 
from what they now exhibit. 


The Useso^ salt are numerous and important: per¬ 
haps much more so than is generally believed or un¬ 
derstood. In the arts, manufactures and agriculture 
it holds a di.^tinguished place among the most valua¬ 
ble articles employed. 

\ 


i 



5d 


An idea of its consequence may be gathered from 
the information given to the parliament of Great 
Britain, by Mr. Parkes, a practical chemist, who was 
examined at the time when that legislative body 
were about to repeal the salt laws of England. The 
slight abstract I shall give below will also exhibit the 
burden which those salt laws impose on the manu¬ 
facturer in Great Britain. The following is a list of 
articles in the manufacture of which salt is used. 

Sal Ammoniac^ or muriate of Ammonia^ is made 
in abundance from common salt, which contains 51 
per cent, of muriatic acid. 

The manufacture of this article was abandoned in 
England, in consequence of the heavy duty of £30 
per ton, laid on salt. In consequence, how ever, of 
bittern from the salt wmrks, being allowed in Scot¬ 
land for the manufacture, the price has been reduced 
nearly one half, and it is now sold at £T20 per ton. 

In the manufacture of Glass, salt is largely em¬ 
ployed ; soda, which is procured from common salt, 
is used for plate glass; potash for flint glass, and 
common salt, mixed with kelp, for crownglass. In 
England the heavy duty on salt is almost a prohibi¬ 
tion to its use for these purposes. 

Oxy-muriate of lime, and other oxy-muriatic salts 
employed in bleaching are made from salt, and con¬ 
sume a large quantity of it in the manufacture. 


60 


Spirit of salt, or muriatic acid, requires lar^e quan¬ 
tities of salt. Mr. Parkes consumed 20 tons yearly 
in the production of it; and at least 1000 tons are used 
for this purpose in England every year, notwith¬ 
standing the enormous duty. It is used in a variety 
of processes in dyeing and calico printing. 

Glauber^s salt is made from what remains in the 
stills after the distillation of muriatic acid. This re¬ 
siduum was formerly thrown away, until a person 
employed it in making Glauber’s salt, when a duty of 
£30 per ton was laid on the article manufactured, 
since, however, remitted. 

Epsom salt is produced entirely from salt, or the 
evaporation of sea water. The brine which yields 
100 tons of salt, gives from four to five tons of this 
valuable article. Dr. Henry, the celebrated chemist 
of Manchester, has discovered a process of preparing 
it from magnesian limestone,’ and has redu-ed the 
price one half. It can be made still cheaper from sea 
water, for the employment of which, in England, 

a duty is laid. 

« 

Magnesia is made from salt brine, or sea w^ater.' 
The English duties are so high as to render it pro¬ 
bable that both this and the preceding article will, in 
liuure, be obtained by Henry’s process from magne¬ 
sian limestone. 


61 


Cryatalizp.d Soda is also made from common salt; 
and if the latter, or sea water, could be obtained free 
of duty in England, it would supercede the importa¬ 
tion of American or Russian pot and pearl ashes, and 
10,000 tons would be used annually in Great Britain. 
Several hundred tons in washing alone. 

Barylla^ of an excellent quality, is made from salt. 
In the manufacture of Hard Soap, salt is a necessary 
ingredient. 

Corrosive Sublimate is always made from common 
salt. It is not only a medicine, but is used exten¬ 
sively in calico printing, and in other arts. Salt is 
alvvays used in making corrosive sublimate : every 
6 lbs. of quicksilver require 12 lbs. of salt; and in 
making calomel every 9 lbs of quicksilver require 
16 lbs. of corrosive sublimate. 

Patent Yellow is also prepared from common salt. 

In the Fisheries, in salting provisions for the sea 
service, and for exportation, salt is largely employed. 
For these purposes, however, it should contain no 
muriate of magnesia, which deliquesces and dissolves 
the salt. It is always present when salt is made by 
a rapid evaporation. 

Butchers, Morocco Dressers, and Skinners, employ 
it in large quantities. 

Housekeepers employ salt in quantities, of which 

9 


62 


no accurate estimate can be made. By inquiring of 
the best [)akers in this city I find that, upon an ave¬ 
rage throughout the year, lbs. of salt are required 
for two barrels of flour, or ^ lb. of salt to every 
bushel of flour. Hence it may be presumed,, that 
every adult consumes an ounce of salt per week, or 
three and a quarter pounds per annum, in bread only. 
Thus, then, ten millions of people (our population) 
consume yearly, in bread 32,600,000 lbs. or 14,600 
tons, or 680,360 bushels of salt. In England double 
this quantity would be consumed, since there a 
pound of salt is used to every bushel of flour. 

In England the poor can scarcely purchase this 
necessary article; and it is supposed that three times 
the present quantity would be eaten if there was no 
duty. At present a poor man there, is ibought to 
pay three per cent, of his income for salt. To use 
threepence worth of his own salt, a man must pay 
ten shillings, (^2 22) for permission. After having 
raised his own property from the earth, purified it, 
crystallized it, and fitted it for use, he must pay a 
fine of 40 times its value for the privilege of con¬ 
suming it at his table. A bushel of 66 lbs. cost 
sixpence sterling; and for less than sixpence more 
can be transported to any part of the kingdom, but 


/ 


% 


63 


3000 per cent, is levied on the first cost, and permits 
only a limited employment of it. 

Farmers use great quantities in making butter 
and cheese, and for steeping wheat to prevent smut; 
for which purpose it proved the best in a trial of 
fourteen substances, simple and compound. Bishop 
Watson says, that in Northwich alone 3,000 tons 
of salt are annually sold to the farmers of that dis¬ 
trict. 

In Glazing Earthen Ware much salt is consumed, 
and is far preferable to the preparations of lead, 
which are liable to be dissolved by vinegar, and eaten. 
In England the manufacturers of earthen ware 
sometimes pay one-twelfth of the real amount of 
their sales for salt. 

Salt is likewise employed by iron founders in 
metallic cements, and in rendering bar iron very mal¬ 
leable. It is used by white smiths and cutlers in 
case-hardening, in tempering files, and some other 
edge tools; mixed with other substances, for re¬ 
ducing metallic ores, assaying minerals, and render¬ 
ing metals fusible, by the refiners of silver, and to 
prevent the oxidizement of some metals. It is used 
to moderate the flame ol’ con.bustible bodies; and is 
extensively employed by the philosophical and matin- 


I 


64 

facturin^ chemist, and by the druggist for a variety 
of pharmaceutical purposes. 


In Horticulture^ salt is much used, particularly in 
England, where its merits are better appreciated 
than with us. It prevents the depredations of in¬ 
sects on fruit trees, and, when properly applied, pro¬ 
tects them from the honey-dew. Persons ambitious 
of having good cider orchards are advised to dig a 
small trench a few yards from each tree, and place 
within it a few pounds of s at which, by the 
rains, &c. is gradually conveyed to the roots, and 
produces the most desirable effects. 


In Agriculture^ I regret to say, salt has not met 
the attention it merits in this country. In after years, 
perhaps, when soil becomes more valuable, we too 
may be driven, as they now are in many parts of 
Europe, to seek means of rendering bad land produc¬ 
tive, and literally leave no stone unturned that can 
tend to accomplish the object. 

In Europe much has been said and written to 
prove and to disprove the utility of salt as a manure. 
Without entering at all into their ideas of the modus 


♦ 





k 




66 

1 

operandi, we may jndge from the efifectsj of experi¬ 
ment. I may say, however, that it has been supposed 
beneficial, in small quantities, by its tendency to 
promote putrefaction; and injurious in large propor¬ 
tion, because it then exerts its antiseptic powers. 
It has been supposed of benefit by destroy ing snails, 
grubs, and other animals in the ground. 

It is observed by Dr. Darwin, that as it is a stim¬ 
ulus which possesses no nourishment, but may excite 
the vegetable absorbent vessels into greater action 
than usual, it may, in a certain quantity, increase 
their growth, by taking up more nourishment in a 
given time, and performing their circulations and 
secretions with greater energy. In a greater quantity 
its stimulus may be so great as to act as an immedi¬ 
ate poison on vegetables, and destroy the motions of 
the vessels by exhausting their irritability. 

The reports of experimenters on the use of salt, as 
a manure, have been as different as the soils on which 
their trials w^ere made ; owing, in some measure, to 
causes which can never be foreseen or controled, 
and on which agricultural experiment so genera )iy 
depends. 

In soils of feruginous sand, brought to a proper 
consistence by mud, or clay, or marl, salt has been 
found to exert effects superior to eight out of ten of 


66 


the best manures. A quantity of ground was prepa¬ 
red, and divided into beds of forty yards in lengdi, by 
one in breadth.. The beds were then sow ed ana ma¬ 
nured by the following substances, in the quantities 
mentioned: 

1. No manure. 

2. Salt, 1 a peck. 

3. Lime, 1 bushel. 

4. Soot, 1 peck. 

5. Wood Ashes, 2 pecks. 

6. Saw Dust, 3 bushels. 

7. Malt Dust, 2 pecks. 

8. Peat, 3 bushels. 

9. Decayed Leaves, 3 bushels. 

10. Fresh Dung, 3 bushels. 

11. Chandler’s Graves, 9 lbs. 

With the exception of chandler’s graves, salt was 

decidedly the best of those used. On a trial of com- 

/ 

pounds, the combination of salt and soot was the 
best. The substances were mixed in the following 
order, and the same quantity of each employed as 
when used singly ; 

1. Salt and Lime. 

2. Salt, Lime, and Sulphuric Acid. 

3. Salt, Lime, and Peat. 

4. Salt, Lime, and Dung. 


67 


5. Salt, Lime, Gypsum, and Peat. 

6. Salt and Soot. 

7. Salt and Wood Ashes. 

8. Salt and Saw Dust. 

9. Salt and Malt Dust. 

10. Salt and Peat. 

11. Salt, Peat, and Bone Dust. 

12. Salt and Decayed Leaves. 

13. Salt and Pearl ashes. 

14 Salt and Chandlers’ Graves. 

Perhaps this superiority may be accounted for by 
the quality of saline substances to attract moisture 
from the air ; for those beds where salt had been used 
were visibly and palpably moister than the rest, even 
for weeks after the salt had been applied; and the 
appearance continued until rain fell, when, of course, 
the distinction ceased. In several instances the crop 
of the land failed altogether, except on the part where 
' salt was applied. 

It is to be remarked, that these observations apply 
parti(‘ularly to what are called feru^inous sandy soils ; 
so that they are adapted, in a good measure, to some 
part of our salt formation ; and much of the land Ijdng 
between the Council Bluffs, and the Rocky Moun- 
tains, a band running parallel to the river Platte, is 
such, perhaps, as after ages may improve by the use 


/ 


68 


of the salt abounding in the rivers in that region. It 
will be long before the population of that section of 
the union will be sufficiently numerous to make it 
necessary to think of it. It will be at a period when 

all our national resources are brought into action. 

1 

’ In Hindostan and China all the land on the coast 
is regularly treated with sea water, and they depend 
solely on this management for the increase and good¬ 
ness of their rice crops. In Poland salt is extensive¬ 
ly used in the tillage of land. 

Many valuable communications on the use of salt, 
as manure, have been made to the British Board of 
Agriculture. I may be allowed to mention two 
further experiments made on this subject. 

To show the effects and advantages of salt pro¬ 
perly applied to vegetables, the gardener to Lord 
R. Manners made the following experiment, in an 
extreme dry summer, upon a bare piece of pasture 
land, out of which the cattle were all taken for want 
of grass. He marked off four places, each of which 
was watered for nine successive nights, in the follow¬ 
ing manner: the first with one gallon of spring 
water ; the second with a gallon of the same water, 
containing an ounce of common salt; the third with 


69 


the same quantity of water, and two ounces of salt.; 
and the fourth with the same quantity of water, and 
three ounces of salt, which gave the following effects : 

The grass in the second place grew more abundant, 
and of a darker green than that in the first; in the 
third place it grew only by spots, for part of it 
was killed where the greatest quantity of water fell; 
and the fourth was quite brown for a greater compass 
than the third : by which it appears that an ounce of 

4 ^ 

salt in a gallon of water had a better effect than the 
water alone; and that three ounces of salt mixed in 
a gallon of water was more than the grass could 
immediately receive ; but the fourth place, in the 
ensuing spring, was the most fertile of them all. 

The other experiment I shall notice is related by 
Dr. Holland, well known by his agricultural survey 
of Cheshire, in England. 

After draining a piece of sour rushy ground about 
the middle of October, he ordered some refuse salt 
spread upon a part of the land, at the rate of eight 
bushels to the acre, and in another part sixteen bush¬ 
els. In a short time the vegetation disappeared totally, 
and during the month of April following not a blade 
of grass was to be seen. In the latter end of the 
month of May a most flourishing crop of rich grass 

made its appearance on that part where the eight 

10 



70 


bushels had been laid. In the month of July the 
other portion produced a still stronger crop ; the 
cattle were remarkably fond of it; and during the 
whole of the ensuing winter, (which is ten or twelve 
years since,) and to this day, the land retained, and 
yet exhibits, a superior verdure to the neighbouring 
closes. 

In the memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences 
at Paris are several papers showing the great advan¬ 
tages resulting from the use of salt as a manure, in 
improving land, and increasing the number of cattle. 
It is there asserted that more than the usual quantity 
of working cattle on a farm gives a double advantage, 
by doing the work in season, and enriching more 
land by their additional manure. The difficulty of 
maintaining this additional number of cattle, without 
increasing the expense, is obviated by the use of salt. 
To prove which it is advanced : 

1. That salt given with the food of cattle augments 
its nourishment. 

2. That in proportion to the quantity of salt eaten 
by cattle, the effects of the augmentation are 
perceived. 

3. That no ill consequences follow its use, even 
when given without stint. 


71 


These propositions are supported by unquesliona- 
ble evidence, and the trials of very many persons. 

Crau, in the jurisdiction of Arles, in the county of 
Provence, France, has an extent of six leagues by 
three, the whole surface of which is covered with 
small rough stones, and not a tree or bush is to be 
seen upon the whole district, except a very few scat¬ 
tered on the border ; yet on this apparently barren 
spot, by the free use of salt, more numerous flocks 
of sheep are bred and reared than upon any other 
common of equal extent in the kingdom; and what 
is hot less remarkable, the sheep are lieahhier, har¬ 
dier, and endure the severity of the winter with less 
loss, though they have fewer sheep cotes for covering, 
than those fed and bred in more luxuriant pastures, 
and that have the advantage of convenient shelter. 
Add to this, that the wool of the flocks bred and 
brought up in the Crau is not only the finest, but 
bears the highest price of any in France. It is con¬ 
cluded, that these surprising effects ‘are consequent 
upon the unlimited use of salt: for it frequently hap¬ 
pens that the Crau is so parched up in summer, that 
the animals are obliged to tiirn up the very stones to 
get the few blades of grass that grow round them, 
and yet none perish for want of food. Allowing 


72 


every excellence that can possibly be supposed in¬ 
herent ill the herbage, yet the quantity of it is so 
small, that without the abundant use of salt, a fourth 
part of the sheep kept in the Crau could not subsist 
on it. 

The second proposition can be proved by an expe¬ 
riment, which every farmer can make, simply by 
giving salt to one half of his cattle, and none to the 
other half: in less than a month there will be a per¬ 
ceptible difference in the appearance of the animals, 
in the sleekness of their coats, in their growth, and in 
their strength and firmness of labour ; and these 
effects will be produced by little more than half their 
usual food. 

The third proposition is supported by the practice 
in Arles, where the cattle have as much salt as they 
can eat, and none are so healthy, or thrive so fast, 
as those that eat most of it. 

In Spain, where the finest wool in the world is 
produced, large quantities of salt are given to the- 
sheep; to which they attribute, in a great measure, 
the fineness of the wool.' 

In England a thousand sheep consume at the rate 
of a ton of salt annually. It is supposed to destroy 
the fasciola hepatica, or fluke worm. 


75 


\ 

it has long been a practice in our country 
salt to horses, and to milch cows. It will be 
an appendix, how great is the quantity given 
mals in England. 


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APPENDIX. 


No. I. 

As salt is extensively used in our fisheries, manufactures, 
and agriculture, I have stated below the value of our exports 
during the commercial year of 1822, which will show the value 
of those branches of trade in which this useful article is em¬ 
ployed. 


Fisheries^ . 
Agriculture^ . 
ManufactureSy 
Forest, . . 

Uncertain, 


Value. 

1,384,539 

41,272,379 

2,483,052 

3,815 642 

918,567 


No. 11. 

in order to show the quantity of salt that would be used 
yearly in Great Britain and Ireland, in case the duty on it was 
repealed, as well as to show the quantity used in those coun¬ 
tries for different purposes, and to exhibit the oppression of 
the salt duty, I copy the estimate made by Mr. Parkes. 









76 


APPENDIX. 


Tons. 

28,972,000 acres of meadow and arable land, 1,298,850 
1,790,000 horses and colts, 637,000 

3,684,000 cows, oxen, and calves, ‘ 1,094,400 

26,148,463 sheep and lambs, 26,184 

Butter, cheese, hay, &c. for farming purposes, in 

addition to what is now used, 10,000 

Domestic general purposes, additional, 20,000 

Trade and manufactures, do. 40,000 

Increased quantity for the fisheries, 30,000 


3,056,398 

Add for Scotland and Ireland one half of the con¬ 
sumption of England 1,528,199 

4.584.597 

Exports, as at present, 140,000 

4.724.597 

Mr. Parkes makes a deduction of one half for the people not 
being accustomed universally, at present, to the use of salt; 
but that is probably owing to its present price, far above the 
reach of the very poor. 

In case, then, of a repeal of the salt duty, there would be 
used and exported—tons 4,724,597 

Present exports and fisheries amount to 140,000 

Present home consumption 55,000 

- 195,000 

Leaving an annual amount of 4,529,697 

Or nearly 162 millions of bushels, which British subjects are 
now prevented from using by the enormous tax of their goverm 
ment on this useful and almost necessary article. 







APPENDIX. 


77 




No. III. 

Thefollowing interesting extracts are from a Letter received, 
in answer to some Queries, jrorn C. Tyler, Ksq. and which 
arrived after these pages went to press. 

** When were the salt springs first discovered ?” 

In the month of April, in the year 1788, I removed from 
Johnstown, in the county of Montgomery, with the family of Gen. 
Asa Danforth, (having previously obtained the permission of the 
Indians,) to Onondaga Hollow. About the same period I was 
informed that Sir William Johnson had, several years before, 
obtained a deed of a tract one mile in wddth adjoining, and 
including the entire lake, and that he made the purchase on 
account of some salt water which had been discovered upon the 
margin of the lake. 

In the month of May, of the same year, the family wanting 
salt, obtained a small quantity (about a pound) from the Indians, 
which they had made from the water of the springs upon the 
shore of the lake. The Indians (then very friendly) offered 
to discover the water to us. Accordingly, I went with an In¬ 
dian guide to the lake, taking along an iron kettle of fifteen 
gallons capacity ; this he placed in his canoe, and steered out of 
the mouth of the Onondaga Creek, (where we then were,) 
then easterly into a pass, now called Salt or Mud Creek. After 
passing over the Salina Marsh, then flowed about three feet 
with water, and steering towards the Bluff of hard land, (now 

11 


78 


APPENDIX. 


the village of Salina) he stopped his canoe about one hundred 
feet from the land, and fastening it by a pole which he put down 
in the mud, pointed down into a hole, apparently artificial, and 
told me there was the salt. I soon distinguished the salt water 
from its ocherous colour, the fresh water being on the top ; I 
put down a bucket into the spring, and on lifting it out,, found I 
had salt water. 

1 went on shore, put up crotches, suspended my kettle, and 
with the canoe and bucket, obtained water to fill it, and in about 
nine hours I boiled about SOlbs. of salt, retaining all the im¬ 
purities contained in the water. It had, however, some of the 
properties of salt, and relieved us from our necessities. 

We continued to make salt in this way during that year, and 
until December, 1789, when a man by the name of Nathaniel 
Loomis (then a settler in Whitesboro) came on with a few 
kettles by the way of Rome and Wood Creek, and in December, 
1789, and winter of 1790, made from 5 to 600 bushels of salt; 
and although of an indifferent quality, sold it for one dollar per 
bushel ; those works were kept in operation nearly or about two 
years, 

“ What are the Indian traditions concerning them 

The traditions of the Indians are vague and indefinite, and do 
not mention the time when the springs were first discovered. 

In what order were they discovered ?” 

Salt was made by the Indians, both from the springs around 
Onondaga Lake and at Montezuma, when I first came to Onon¬ 
daga, but which were first discovered I cannot say. 


APPENDIX. 


79 


“ To whom did they belong ?” 

To the Indians, and were obtained from them by treaty. The 
springs at Montezuma are private property. 

“ At what depth are the springs, and what are the strata above 
them ?” 

The salt water used at Montezuma was obtained, by the 
Indians, by digging small holes in the ground, a foot or two 
in depth, in the marsh at the foot of the ridge upon which 
the village now stands. The water came through smalls tra- 
ta of quicksand. Afterwards wells were sunk by the whites 
to Various depths, from 14 to 50 feet, from which w'ater of 
the same quality with that which was first discovered was taken 
in sufficient quantities to make considerable salt. The water, 
however, was weak, yielding about eight ounces to the gallon. 

About 1807, Gen. John Swartwout began to manufacture salt 
from salt water discovered in a branch of the Seneca River, 
since called Salt Creek, at the depth of about 8 or 12 feet from 
the surface. This water was of a quality like that first used j 
the fresh water was partially excluded by means of a curb. 

In the year 1810, under the direction of the Cayuga Manu¬ 
facturing Company, a well w'as sunk on the w est side of the 
ridge of ground upon which the village now stands, to the depth 
of something more than one hundred feet. In sinking this well 
three separate springs of water were discovered : the first, like 
that which had been previously used, about ten feet from the 


4 


80 APPENDIX. 

surface. Then succeeded a stratum of fine blue clay, five or 
six feet in depth ; then a stratum of hard pan, with occasionally 
some gravel, about thirty-five feet in depth ; then a thin stratum 
of quicksand, containing a little weak brine, having about ten oun¬ 
ces to the gallon ; then succeeded thin irregular strata of sand 
and clay, with some water, until they reached to the distance of 
a hundred feet, where they found the great fountain of water, 
which came in through a body of quicksand. This water, when 
pure and unmixed with the upper veins, produced about twenty 
ounces to the gallon. Another well was sunk on the east side 
of the ridge, and the great fountain was found at the depth of 
eighty feet. The geological appearances were like those in 
the first well. Another well is partly completed in this place ; 
it is now sunk to about the depth of fifty feet, and the geological 
appearances are much the same as in the other wells, except 
that the upper vein of water is more abundant than in the other 
wells, and the sand deeper. 

The foreign matter is essentially the same as at Salina. 

The strength of the water now used from our wells, com¬ 
pared with that of Salina, is about as nine to twelve. 

The amount manufactured at these works last year was 
between 16 and 20,000 bushels, 1,000 of which was made by 
solar evaporation. No kettles are used, but large pans of 
wrought iron, w’hich were made in Liverpool, England. Only 
six of these were in operation last year ; more have heretofore 
been in operation. Twelve or fourteen will be in operation 
next year. 

No rock salt has ever been found here. 

The hills and ridges run almost due north and south, and the 
soil is generally gravelly ; the pebbles being round and smooth. 


